Loverboy singer apologizes for ‘Working for the Weekend’
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Mike Reno would like to apologize for the ‘80s earworm “Working for the Weekend.”
The B.C.-born Loverboy frontman owes a good deal of his career to the song, which reached No.2 on Billboards’s Hot Mainstream Rock Track countdown in 1982. It wax Loverboy’s highest-charting song at the time, and was chosen as one of VH1’s “Greatest Songs of the 1980s.”
Much like Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” was heralded for being a patriotic homage instead of the ant-war screed it actually was, “Working for the Weekend” became something of an anthem despite having nothing to do with actually working. The song is basically about starting over, or going to a bar at night, or something; the only reference to any kind of work is in the title and one line in the chorus.
But still, Reno wants the world to know that he feels bad about casting aspersions on people who actually work, and like their jobs. Especially since he’s starring in an ad for indeed.com, an online job site.
“Years ago, I sang some disparaging lyrics about the work week, claiming that people were looking past it and focusing solely on the weekend. Well, it’s time to admit that maybe I was a little off base. Thanks to Indeed and their 16,000,000 job listings, more people are finding jobs that make them happy.”
Reno even suggests a lyric change for the old standard.
“So now it’s not just all about the weekend. It’s more like “everyone’s really enjoying their time at work, and when the weekend comes, that’s fine too.”
It’s amusing to see Reno making fun of “Working for the Weekend,” since everyone else does too. Its most significant appearances in pop culture are from the Saturday Night Live skit with Chris Farley and Patrick Swayze as Chippendale dancers, and a scene from Zoolander where Ben Stiller is working in a coal mine.
How do you parody a song that’s basically a parody of itself? By taking it seriously. Well done, Mike Reno.
By the way, Reno’s real name is Joseph Michael Rynoski. Now you know.
